Ricciardo wins thrilling Hungary GP

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo overtakes Fernando Alsonso in the rain on lap 68 to take his second F1 victory.

It was Ricciardo's second victory of the season and his career, having won the Canadian Grand Prix [GALLO/GETTY]

Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix for Red Bull while Lewis Hamilton roared from pitlane to podium in another astonishing performance by the Mercedes driver.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was second and championship leader Nico Rosberg, who started on pole position for Mercedes, finished fourth and saw his lead over Hamilton cut from 14 points to 11.

The safety car at first played to our advantage but the second one didn't really help us, but we got there in the end and I had to do the overtaking at the end which was fun.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull

Ricciardo, a revelation in his first year at Red Bull, took the chequered flag 5.2 seconds ahead of the Spaniard for his second win of the season and of his career.

"It feels as good as the first win, it really does," beamed the Australian, who took his first win in Canada, after a rollercoaster of a race with two safety car periods and plenty of incident.

"The safety car at first played to our advantage but the second one didn't really help us, but we got there in the end and I had to do the overtaking at the end which was fun."

All of the top four had led over the course of a race that started after a brief downpour, was interrupted by two big crashes, continued with the ever-present threat of rain and finished on a knife-edge.

Ricciardo swept past Hamilton three laps from the end and overtook a determined Alonso to regain the lead for good with two laps to go.

Behind them, Rosberg - who had also made three stops to Alonso and Hamilton's two - was closing in remorselessly and was all over the back of his team mate's car as they started the final lap.

Hamilton hung on, after earlier disregarding calls from the team to let Rosberg pass because the German still had one more pitstop to make, to seize a podium finish that had looked improbable on Saturday.

FIA Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship

Driver Points

1 Nico Rosberg 202

2 Lewis Hamilton 191

3 Daniel Ricciardo 131

4 Fernando Alonso 115

5 Valtteri Bottas 95

Hamilton's miraculous recovery

The Briton had to start from the pitlane after his car caught fire in qualifying before he had completed a lap.

He spun at the second corner, skimming the wall without damage, and was 21 seconds down on Rosberg after the first lap with a mountain to climb.

By lap seven Hamilton was up to 14th and events played into his hands when the safety car was deployed.

While the top four decided not to pit, in what proved out to be a mistake that turned the race on its head, Hamilton and others did. Ricciardo then took the lead when they came in a lap later.

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